Disclaimer: I don't own HP.

Well, this is my first multi-chapter fic. If you've read my oneshots, I don't think this will be quite as dark. But... I'm sure it will be.


Chapter One

Scorpius Malfoy's first skill was sneering. He was really quite good at it and had in fact been a practitioner of the art of sneering ever since his father and his mother had divorced when he was five. This was simply because everyone had decided that not only did Scorpius need to be pitied for his… ahem, antecedents but also now because his parents clearly had never truly cared for each other. His father, Scorpius liked to think, would be proud of his magnificent sneer as Draco could also sneer with some fantastic talent.

So it wasn't much of a surprise that by the time Scorpius was preparing to begin his fifth year at Hogwarts, he was truly a world-class sneerer.

He was browsing through the bookstore. It was a dusty and dingy place but Scorpius loved it. After all, when in a bookstore there was very little to be judged but the quality of the book one was reading. And Scorpius had read quite enough books to be able to judge the ability of a book. He was taking a fantastic course load this year; all OWL levels of Potions, Arithmancy, Ancient Ruins, Herbology, and History of Magic. He didn't have to take classes with loads of spell casting. Not, mind you, because he was bad at that sort of thing. He wasn't bad at much if you didn't count general athletics. Scorpius was pants at anything that required coordination.

His second skill, Scorpius supposed, should have been learning how to walk like a Malfoy. But, as Draco would say, Scorpius could walk as a Greengrass. Which was an insult. Scorpius knew this because of the wonderful sneer that his father would say it with.

"If you don't mind, I need to pick up that book there."

Scorpius jolted out of his thoughts about his lack of skill walking and came face to face with one Albus Severus Potter.

It wasn't quite face to face as much as face to chest seeing as Albus was a quite a bit taller than Scorpius.

"Ah, Albus. Sure." Scorpius said. But, there wasn't much place for Scorpius to go. The book aisle was thin and packed far too thickly with books.

"Here let me just hand it to you." Scorpius said, and he picked up the book Albus had indicated and handed it to the other man.

Scorpius hoped it wasn't to presumptuous to say that he and Albus were men. After all they were fifteen, only two years from being full adults. So, he supposed that made them men. Despite the fact that Scorpius wasn't sure he felt like a man. He knew that he wasn't a boy. And he was never a guy.

"I suppose I'll be seeing you in this class then." Albus said. He held up the book again. It was the supplemental book for the History of Magic OWL course.

"Didn't expect that you'd be taking this class. You are more of the wand-waving sort of wizard." Scorpius said. His voice held a sneer in his voice and Scorpius was grateful. It was generally curious that Albus would be taking the course. And as a Ravenclaw, Scorpius was always one to follow up on his curiosities.

And yes, Ravenclaw. His father and grandfather had yet to completely accept the shame, while his grandmother, Narcissa, had taken him out to Hogsmeade and told him that she had nearly been placed in Ravenclaw and there was nothing to be ashamed about. There were times that Scorpius adored his grandmother and abhorred his father and grandfather. That had been one of those times.

His maternal line however had little to react to because Scorpius was quite sure they had Obliviated themselves of memories of him.

"Oh don't worry, I'm taking Potions, DADA, Charms, and Herbology also. Plenty of wand-waving." Albus said. He wasn't smiling but his voice sounded like a chuckle and Scorpius could feel his cheeks turning red.

"Ah, well, then I'll see you at Hogwarts." Scorpius said. This was how he dealt with Albus Potter. Whenever his cheeks turned red- he would never acknowledge blushing- he would cut off the conversation. And Albus would always accept because, Scorpius was sure, Albus had learned the pattern.

One would expect it of a sneaky Slytherin.

Yes, Albus Severus Potter was a Slytherin. A Potter was a Slytherin. It had made quite the headlines. But, people had come to accept it. After all, there had been a Weasley sorted into Slytherin not two years prior. Louis Weasley, child of Bill and Fleur Weasley, had made headlines with his entrance into Slytherin. And people had nearly collapsed when Lily Potter, the third and final offspring of Harry and Ginny Potter, had been sorted into Ravenclaw. The only Gryffindor offspring of Harry and Ginny had in fact been their eldest. But three years had passed since Lily's upheaval of social expectations and so, society had recovered from the shock and awe of the revelation of a Slytherin Potter.

"See you." Albus said, strolling away. He sounded like he had a wicked grin on his face. Scorpius refused to look because he knew that Albus would certainly notice. It was hardly a secret to Scorpius that he had some sort of sexual attraction to the other boy. Scorpius liked to analyze information, even when that information was his emotions towards another. It wasn't like the two of them didn't have a relationship but it wasn't a friendship and they weren't enemies and while Scorpius knew he had a terrific crush on the other he wasn't a Gryffindor for a reason. Just because he knew facts and analyzed his emotions didn't mean he knew what to do. It rather meant he was terrified and immovable.

The real problem was that it seemed that lately, as in the end of the last year at Hogwarts, Albus had somehow discovered Scorpius. It seemed that the other man had really never quite thought about Scorpius as an actual person until last year.

And Scorpius knew from years of experience living with his paternal family that Slytherins were experts at getting someone to do what they wanted. So Scorpius, being stubborn, had simply decided that he would treat Albus in no way special and would simply not do anything. Because that was masterful plan.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Albus Potter's first skill was smiling. He had practiced his smile from a young age. He'd discovered the power of smiling when he was small child. His parent's had been having one of their silent vicious fights when his grandmother had come to visit. Molly was a wonderful grandmother but she was horrendous at realizing when her son-in-law and daughter were fighting. But his parents had smiled and laughed and Molly had left none the wiser. It wasn't that they had reconciled. Immeaditely after the visit, the fight was resumed with perhaps more viciousness. Albus had decided that smiling was perhaps the most powerful bit of magic he would ever discover.

Albus was just as good a smiler as his mother. Ginny could smile with the greatest charm and grace no matter the situation while his father, Harry, was actually quite good at a thoughtful frown.

And so when he walked away from Scorpius Malfoy, he was fuming and smiling. He'd heard about the other boy quite a bit. Last spring break, his cousin Louis had invited Blanche Zabini to accompany him on the annual Potter-Weasley spring vacation. And so while Albus had wanted to go swimming in the Mediterranean and perhaps convince some girls to entertain him, he had been forced to listen to Zabini prattle on about his classmates.

From the majority of it, Albus had decided that Ravenclaws were in general a miserable bunch of people. With one exception, Scorpius Malfoy.

See from the way Zabini talked about the other boy, Albus had quickly come to believe that Scorpius was perhaps an interesting person; quiet, bookish, and skilled beyond most powerful and grown wizards. This was interesting in and of itself to Albus because Albus didn't believe that there were many interesting people in the world.

As he stomped away from Scorpius, Albus wondered if there was actually anything there. Yes, the boy was intelligent and witty. But, he was dismissive. And Albus hated that. If anything, he wanted to be acknowledged. And he normally was. After all, he was the top of his class, attractive if the swoons of others meant anything, the Keeper for the Slytherins and had yet to let a point be scored on him in the past three years, and he knew, headed for entirely important things.

And Scorpius dismissed him. In every conversation. Infuriating.

"What's got you so pissed? You're smiling so hard that your face might crack." It was Christopher Nott. Albus nodded to him and said, "That boy."

Christopher nodded. He knew about Albus' recent focus on Scorpius and detested the other boy for it. After all, Christopher had listened to Albus' rants on what made a person interesting and what made them dull. And he knew that Albus would not stop speaking about Scorpius until Scorpius was neatly arranged into the interesting box or the dull and therefor useful box. It was Christopher's fortune to be Albus' closest friend and his misfortune as such to be obligated to listen to the musings of the intelligent man.

"Mincie and I are going to get ice cream you should come." Christopher said. Albus nodded, grateful for the distraction. And he knew it was a distraction. He paid for his book and then walked out with Christopher to go meet the other boy's girlfriend.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Scorpius sat in his room and ate his dinner. The Malfoy family had not dined together in years and so Scorpius was more than used to eating alone and staring at the wall. He had had all of the portraits removed from his walls over the year. No need to actually hear the disapproval that his family felt about his existence.

Stabbing his food violently, Scorpius left his fork victoriously standing in his mashed potatoes.

He got up and moved about his large room. It was far too big for him and everything was horrendously quiet. On his wall his calendar was enlarged and pinned up with each day marking a countdown to the beginning of Hogwarts. Each day until his departure was slashed out violently. As if Scorpius hated every moment of his being home.

In actuality, it wasn't like Scorpius hated every moment of being home.

It was just the majority of the moments he was home that he hated.

He wanted to be back in Hogwarts with his friends. He could nearly see them all and how they would arrange themselves. Rose and Lorcan would sit back to back while Lysander sat across from Lorcan. The twins would be debating some trivial point about Astronomy and Blanche would sit and chuckle at each well-phrased argument. And Scorpius could see himself lying on his stomach near them flipping through his Ancient Ruins book.

It was far to jarring to realize that he was still in his room at home and that it would be some time before he was back in the warm embrace of Ravenclaw and away from the cold of his family. But, Scorpius had very little that he could do to change that. So, he walked over to his bookshelf and pulled out his most recent interest, time turners and their creation, and then in front of his fireplace he lay on his stomach and began to read. He hummed steadily to himself and until he was done reading nearly four hours later he was content.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Harry and Ginny were fighting. It was clear from the way the food was cooked. Albus stared at his plate and wondered when they would divorce. The fights had been going on since Albus could remember. In the deepest part of his mind he knew that he and his siblings were all attempts to keep a fractured marriage from collapsing.

He decided to refuse to think about it.

Albus began silently eating the meal in front of him. James was doing the same. Lily however was talking delightedly about how she looked forward to seeing Hugo Weasley again and how the start of Hogwarts was so close and everything, Albus was sure, looked wonderful for Lily who perpetually looked at life through a rose-colored glass. His father was frowning at his plate and Ginny was smiling engagingly at her daughter.

Albus wanted to puke.

It was disgusting, his parents representation of love.

They had the nerve to lecture him on his hedonistic lifestyle when they could barely agree whether the weather was slightly cloudy or nearly sunny.

"I'm done. I'll see you all later—don't disturb me I'll be in my room." Albus said. It was sudden and different from the flow of the conversation thus far, but Albus didn't much care.

He scraped off most of his dinner into the garbage and left his plate near the sink. The cleaning spells would take care of the mess. It wasn't like Albus was restless to leave to Hogwarts. Hogwarts was just as terrifically boring as home was. But both being home and being at Hogwarts were required by law. It was when he turned seventeen that Albus knew he would finally be free.

Sighing, he entered his room. He locked the door behind him and walked straight to his desk. On it, with the page neatly marked, sat a book that speculated on the secretive craft of wands and about the most important wand—The Elder Wand. A smile creeping onto his face, Albus gave the book a loving stroke and sat down to start reading.


Alright then.

Let me know what you think. :) And thank you in advance for any reviews.